K-cinema review: Miss Baek
I love Korean cinema. It keeps on feeding me good movies, compelling stories with a rich subtext, and fascinating images.
I am super excited about sharing my love for films, and I get to talk about whatever features I want (as long as it’s Korean, obviously). However, unbelievably enough (?), having too much choice is making me anxious. I am actually overthinking this. *Fake shocked gasp for anyone who knows me*.
Hence, after much thoughts and drafts, I have decided to talk about Miss Baek (Lee Ji-won; 2018). I wanted to inaugurate the review section with a feature that I liked and felt more people should watch, but also with one made by a woman and with a female main character.
So, as Adriene would say, hop into something comfy and let’s get started.
It's winter. The body of Jeong Myung-sook is found by detective Jang-sup. The deceased was the mother of Baek Sang-ah. The latter is, you guessed it, THE Miss Baek from the title and therefore the main character. Jang-sup and Miss Baek are friends (actually, if they had to choose a Facebook status in 2010, it would be “it’s complicated”).
Sang-Ha was beaten by her mom as a child, and then left to the orphanage. She’s not so happy when she realizes Jang-sup has actively been looking for her mom. The finding of the body forces the protagonist to start a mourning progress.
With her mom’s death, (not so) secretly soft-hearted Sang Ha takes a neighbour’s girl under her wing. The child, 9 years-old Kim Ji-Eun, is mistreated by her dad and her step-mom. Ji-eun takes a growing place in the young lady’s life. The bound the two of them develop helps them in their respective life journeys.
“It could have been interesting to not justify why people mistreat children: the movie gives an explanation for Sang-Ha’s mother’s, Ji-eun’s dad’s and Ji-eun’s step-mother’s behaviours. Maybe it just answers our human need to make sense of everything. Maybe rationalizing makes the uncomprehensible more comprehensible. Miss Baek also hints as the dead mother’s repentance. To me, this is also an answer to our need to make more morally acceptable something that is not. People who do bad things have self-reflection- even more mothers! This is a reassuring thought. My realistic (some would say cynical) me don’t think it’s always true though. These layers could have been interesting in the feature. But they might have brought the movie to a different place, and the film is nice as it is.”
Indeed, the feature is moving, Baek is touching and has a nice and interesting story arc – without being too obvious and in your face. It has humour (especially with Jang-sup’s sister) which is much appreciated, especially for a first feature that is defined as belonging to the drama genre. The acting is topnoch and the cinematography is nice to look at. Congratulations to Lee Ji-won (filmmaker), all the actors including Han Ji-min (who plays Sang-Ha) and all the crew, including Kang Kuk-hyun (cinematography).
Last words from me: watch the movie, it’s good. Watch the movie, it’s only 1 hour 38, or less than 5 Friends episodes. Watch it with something to eat, as the characters share many mouth-watering meals on screen. Watch it and get excited for the filmmaker’s next feature (Bigwang- due 2020).
Guest Author: Asian Movie Pulse Writer Oriana Virone.